UW offers three Rainier Beach players

A pair of Rainier Beach players picked up Washington offers in the past few days. That makes three Vikings — Djuan Piper, David Crisp and Dejounte Murray — that have now been offered by Lorenzo Romar. Crisp (class of 2015) picked up his offer on New Year’s Eve, while Romar called Piper (2014) today. Murray (2015) had previously received an offer.

Piper was, well, a bit surprised.

“I had never talked to Coach Romar in my life,” he said. “I was surprised, but happy. Excited at the same time.”

Piper, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound forward, also has offers from Minnesota, Gonzaga, USC, Washington State, Richmond and Illinois State. The UW offer stands out to him because it’s his hometown team and one he’s thought about playing for growing up.

Crisp is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound point guard that has received lots of interest from top-tier mid-majors, including Boise State. The UW had been in contact with Crisp for awhile and he wasn’t taken by surprise when he was offered. Especially not after a huge weekend at the Les Schwab Invitational in Portland, Ore.

Crisp said the UW “is a place I would want to go,” but won’t make any decisions until talking with his family. Playing in the Pac-12 would allow Crisp to face his cousin, former Lincoln guard and current California commit Ahmaad Rorie, as well as AAU teammate Tre’Shaun Fletcher, a freshman at Colorado.

Could Crisp, Piper and Murray all play on the same college team?

“They’re like the two people I’m most close to [on Rainier Beach],” Piper said. “We really like to do it, it would be fun.”

That doesn’t mean it will happen, but it does say something about Rainier Beach.

“I think it legitimizes what I said,” coach Mike Bethea said. “When we went down [to the Les Schwab Invitational], I’ve been telling everybody that we have anywhere from seven to eight Division I players on this squad.”